Shoe stitcher



Aug. 8, 1933. E WOLF 1,921,277

SHOE STITCHER Filed Sept. 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E. G. WOLF SHOE STITCHER Aug. 8, 1933.

Filed Sept.- 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 8, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Machine Company,

tion of Missouri St. Louis, Mo., a Corpora- Application September 5, 1931. No. 561,375

13 Claims. (01. 112-41 The invention relates to shoe machinery generally used for stitching shoe soles and uppers together, one type of which machinery is illustrated in Pederson Patent 821,826 issued May 29,

The invention consists in novel structure-for lifting the presser foot and releasing the thread lock and thread tension'when it is desired to withdraw the work from the machine.

Usually at the end of a stitching operation, when the driving shaft has been released from the clutch and the machine has come to rest, it is necessary for the operator to reverse the rotation of the main shaft of the machine by handfarenough to cause the takeup to release a substantial length of thread, and then to lift the presser foot by means of a suitable lever, to permit the shoe to be withdrawn a substantial distance from the sewing mechanism to permit the thread to be cut at a point spaced from the sewing mechanism so that subsequent operation of the machine willnot unthread the looper. Or the operator may rotate the machine by hand to a point in its cycle of operation in which the thread lock is released, and then lift the presser foot, and manually withdraw the work and the thread, against the tension usually provided, to provide surplus thread as indicated above.

The object of the present invention is to provide for the manual lifting of the presser foot and the simultaneous release of the thread lock and tension device at any point in the cycle of the machine thereby avoiding the necessity of rotating the machine by hand to provide slack in the thread or to position the mechanism at a certain point where the thread lock, and, in some machines, the presser foot, will be released.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate a selected embodiment of the invention- Figure 1 is a side elevation of that portion of a shoe stitcher which includes the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a part of the lower portion of the machine frame showing a treadle connection to the mechanism illustrated in Figure 1.

cated at 1 and the main shaft at 2. The stitching mechanism includes a needle 3 and an awl 4. The presser foot 5 is mounted on a lever 6 pivoted at '1. A tail piece 6a is normally held, in the illustrated relation to lever 6 by a rod 68 co and a spring 69. Lever'6 and tail piece do carry racks 8 and a pair of pawls 9 and io-ncrmaliy engage racks 8 and are held in the elevated position, shown in Figure 1, by lever 11 to hold the presser foot down on the work. Lever 11 is pivoted at 12 and is held in elevated position by a roller 13 riding in the cam 14. The latter has a depression 15 which temporarily lowers lever 11 thereby releasing pawls 9 and 10 from racks 8 during each cycle of operation of the machine to eliminate the presser foot pressure on the work and to permit feeding of the work to successive positions beneath the needle. The above described mechanism has long been in use and is well known in the art.

In order to manually release the pawls at any point in the cycle of operation, the following mechanism is provided. A treadle 16 is pivoted on the frame at 17 is connected by a linkage 18 'to a lever 19 pivoted on the frame at 20. A link 21 extends upwardly from the outer end of lever 19 and is connected to a bar 22 having a forwardly extending hook 23 on one edge and a. rearwardly extending cam element 24 on the opposite edge. A pawl unlocking lever 25 is pivoted to the frame at 26 and has a projection 27 in the path of movement of element 24. Downward inovementof bar 22 first results in element 24 engaging the corresponding projection 2'7 of lever 25 thrusting the latter to the right whereupon its edges 28 and 29 will engage pins 30 and 31, respectively, on pawls 9 and 10 to rotate the latter on their pivots out of engagement with racks 8. Further downward movement of bar 22 results in hook 23 engaging a pin 32 in the presser foot lever 6, rotating the latter in a clockwise direction about its pivot 7 so as to raise the presser foot 5 from the work. This operation may be performed independently of the position of lever 11 and cam 14.

The machine thread T (Figure 4) passes from a source 'of supply, not shown, over the tension wheel 40, rotatable on shaft 51, and sheave 41 and locking roller 42 on its way to the needle.

A thread locking lever 43 is loosely pivoted on moves lever 48 once in each cycle of operation of the machine to release the thread lock temporarily and to permit the thread to be drawn through the same. This mechanism is well known in the art and in itself does not constitut-e the present invention.

In order to release the thread locking lever at any point in the cycle of operation of the machine the following mechanism is provided. Shaft 20 is keyed to lever 19 whereby the shaft is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction whenever the treadle 16 is depressed. The left hand end of shaft 20 includes a lug 52 which engages an arm 53 on sleeve 46 to rotate the latter and arm 45 and thereby rotating sleeve 46 to move lever 43 to unlocking position.

A collar 54 is slidably but non-rotatably mounted on shaft 51 and engages the side of tension wheel 40 and a spring 56 presses collar 54 against the wheel 40 to provide frictional resistance to the rotation of the wheel.

To release the pressure of collar 54 on wheel 40, there is provided a yoke 57 having its lower end pivoted at 58 to a bracket 59 on the machine frame and having studs 62 engaging the inner face of a flange 55 on collar 54. The upper end of yoke 57 has an inclined surface 60 adapted to be engaged by pin 61 projecting from shaft 20. Whenever shaft 20 is rotated by treadle 16 to release the thread locking lever 43, the shaft also moves the upper end of yoke 57 to the left to release tension wheel 40 from the pressure of spring 56 and collar 54 thereby enabling the workman to remove the shoe from the machine by pulling a suflicient amount of thread through the mechanism which normally holds the thread securely.

I'he drawings illustrate some associated parts such as the thread measuring lever 65 and yoke 66 which do not form part of the present invention. It is to be understood that the manual release may be effected by means of a hand lever instead of the foot treadle 16 and obviously other variations in the details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a stitcher, a single thread lock controlling the passage of thread through the stitcher, a thread tension device, mechanism normally holding said lock and device in operative position throughout a portion of the cycle of operation of the machine, and manually operable means for releasing the thread from said lock and device during said portion of the cycle of operation of the machine.

2. In a stitcher, a presser foot, a single thread lock controlling the passage of thread through the stitcher, mechanism normally holding the presser foot against the work and holding said lock in operative position throughout a portion of the cycle of operation of the machine, a thread tension device normally resisting movement of thread through the machine, and manually operable means for lifting said presser foot from the work and releasing the thread from said tension device during said portion of the cycle of operation of the machine.

3. In a stitcher, a presser foot, mechanism normally holding the presser foot against the Work throughout a portion of the cycle 'of operation of the machine, a single thread lock controlling the passage of thread through the stitcher and normally functioning throughout a portion of the cycle of operation of the nachine, a thread tension device normally functioning throughout the cycle of operation of the machine, and manually operable means for lifting said presser foot and releasing said thread lock and said thread tension during said portions of the cycle of operation of the machine.

4. In a stitcher, a single thread lock controlling the passage of thread through the stitcher and normally holding the thread fast, a thread tension device normally resisting movement of thread through the machine, and manually operable means for releasing said lock and tension device at any point in the cycle of operation of the machine.

5. In a stitcher, a single thread lock controlling the passage of thread through the stitcher and normally holding the thread fast, a thread tension device normally resisting movement of thread through the machine, and mechanism actuated by a single manually operable member for releasing said lock and tension device at any point in the cycle of operation of the machine.

6. In a shoe stitcher, a presser foot lever, means normally holding said lever with the presser foot against the work, a thread lock, a-thread tension device, a shaft, an arm secured to said shaft, a manually operable pull rod con-- nected to said arm, means on said rod for rotating said presser foot lever to raise the presser foot from the work, and means on said shaft for simultaneously releasing said thread lock and releasing the tension on said device.

7. In a shoe stitcher, a thread tension device comprising a shaft, a sheave like wheel rotatable about the same, a non-rotatable collar slidable on said shaft and a spring thrusting said collar against said sheave; a thread lock comprising a shaft, a lever rotatable about the same, one end of said lever clamping the thread against an opposing surface, and a lever engaging the other end of said lever to release said clamping end; and means for releasing the thread from said tension device and lock comprising a rotatable shaft with radial arms thereon, one of said arms being operably connected with said lever and the other of said arms being operably connected with said collar, and a man ually operable member for rotating said latter mentioned shaft when desired.

3. In a stitcher, a presser foot, means normally holding said foot in engagement with the work, a thread look, a thread tension device, a shaft, mechanism for oscillating said shaft, and elements secured to said shaft and respectively connected to said presser foot, thread lock, and tension device to render the same inoperative when said shaft is oscillated to a given position.

9. In a stitcher, a presser foot, means normally holding said foot in engagement with the work, a thread look, a thread tension device, a manually movable member, and means operably connecting said member with said foot, lock and device.

10. In a stitcher, a presser foot, means normally holding said foot in engagement with the work, a thread lock, a thread tension device, a manually movable member operable at any point in the cycle of operations of the stitcher, and means operably connecting said member with said foot, lock and device.

11. In a stitcher, a thread lock, a thread tension device, a manually movable member, and means operably connecting said member with said lock and device.

ally, from its normal position, at substantially any point in the cycle of operations of the stitcher, and elements secured to said shaft and respectively connected to said presser foot, thread lock, and thread tension device to render the same inoperative when said shaft is oscillated from its normal position.

EUGENE G. WOLF. 

